Cecil Beaton's Bright Young Things

Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) is one of the most celebrated British Portrait photographers of the twentieth century and is renowned for his images of elegance glamour and style His influence on portrait photography was profound and lives on today in the work of many contemporary photographers0Beaton used his camera his ambition and his largerthanlife personality to mingle with a flamboyant and rebellious group of artists writers socialites and partygoers These 'Bright Young Things' captured the spirit of the roaring twenties and thirties as they cut a dramatic swathe through the epoch Beaton quickly developed a reputation for his beautiful often striking and fantastic photographs which culminated in his portraits of Queen Elizabeth in 1939 More than a photographer Beaton became a society fixture in his own right0 In a series of themed chapters covering Beaton's first selfportraits and earliest sitters to his time at Cambridge and as principle society photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair over 60 leading figures who sat for him are profiled and the dazzling parties pageants and balls of the period are brought to life Among this glittering cast are Beaton's socialite sisters Baba and Nancy Beaton Stephen Tennant the Mitfords Siegfried Sassoon Evelyn Waugh and Daphne Du Maurier Beaton's photographs are complemented by a wide range of letters drawings and ephemera and contextualised by artworks created by those in his circle including Christopher Wood Rex Whistler and Henry Lamb. Exhibition : The National portrait gallery London UK (12/03-07/06/2020)